Monday, July 11. 2005

The Bayit Leumi (“National Home”) movement announced an aim for those marching to Gush Katif once it is closed: Dismantling the tent city set to house troops participating in the transfer. “Uprooting the camp of the uprooters” is the name of the plan. Organizers say it will give planned marches to Gush Katif upon its closure a clear and effective goal that will be carried out without violence or any acts of vandalism.

Government ministers have been hinting for months that the withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria will not be the last. Now a senior officer says the IDF is preparing for more pullbacks. A senior IDF officer interviewed by London Arab newspaper Al Shark al Awsat said that Israel’s “disengagement plan” represents the first installment in a series of withdrawals and other one-sided measures, culminating in a Palestinian state in 2008.